Mac Pro 2013 and GPU Expansion

there is no dual cpu

the question does not revolve around how many lanes but also goes to PCIe 3.0 has a lot more bandwidth and TB2 even is a fraction of how much a Titan in PCIe 3.0

Can that pair of FirePro AMD cards provide what you need or not though? do you really think those won't handle 3D?

Only reason to go to a break out TB2 is if you want to use Nvidia and the FirePro pair won't.

I think some of this has to wait until there are real actual tests and hands on, from various parties AFTER Intel can deliver the new processors of course, and after Apple ships - will almost certainly come with and require 10.9 which is still only in hands of a very few developers and early testing and months away, 3-4 months out.

Some use Linux now.

A single 12-core processor is more efficient so unless you already need 24 cores, and are willing to pay the price in terms of $$$ but also added overhead (30%) necessary due to QuickPath, prediction ability of memory, large 20-24MB L3 cache, and other changes Intel has devleoped for multi-socket and the heat and cooling requirements.

Yes Windows supports more than 10.9 in terms of RAM and number of sockets and cores.

Would be nice if 3rd party Nvidia can be used or sold as BTO... and maybe they can and will - the drivers for GTX support that showed up in 10.8.3. Maybe Apple won't but eVGA will and maybe the graphics (and would seem that are they REALLY going to be soldered and not replaceable?) so you can use anything you want....?

I would have to say that supporting 4 GPUs on PC is limiting, you don't get 4 x 16x PCIe 2.2 double wide slots normally or easily. Even with say eVGA SR-X.

No one knows except in labs what and whether you can order a 12-=core with low end GPU and swap it out for a pair of Quadro 6000+ or whatever else there is.

We know that TB2 does not come close in terms of how much data it can handle. And PCIw 3.0 is much much more efficient and lower overhead than PCIe 2.x was.

That is one of the problems with announcing a product that doesnt' really even exist. Even the RAM spec mentioned is not available on Intel server Xeon - they top out at 1600MHz (and we are not talking 4th generation Invy Bridge on desktop where 2200MHz DDR3 is found).

Maybe engineers at software companies and Nvidia but they are under NDA - anyone that knows can't say what they know.

http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=417032&d=1371065981

• Notes on new Mac Pro and using Thunderbolt 2 for Video Cards (netkas)
• Nvidia Tesla acceleration drivers in OS X 10.9 (netkas)
• OS X Maverick: Developers discuss Apple's new love for power users
• A Big Hint That Apple Is Taking Video Games Seriously Now

ANY upgrade with external chassis wil be extra 1000 bucks for just an empty box to carry you GPU and ANY NVIDIA cards will conflict with built-in Firepro ATI and basically won't work.

Good thing you will be able to spec the MacPro with what you want when you buy it. It would be foolish to assume the dual FirePro is the only option given that their website says they can have "up to 6GB" of VRAM.

Is there a reason to suspect that dual AMD FirePro D700 with 6 GBS of GDDR5 VRAM each wouldnt be able to render good enough for most people? Serious question.

I am qurious since I work with Maya, After Effects and Photoshop daily for a big company and dont use a FirePro or a Quadro GPU. Sure its not optimal but it does the job alright. Given its not very complex projects.

What would you guys think is the limit for the high end Mac Pro with dual FirePro D700, 64GB RAM and the 12 core CPU?

Yeah, I get your point!

But in benchmark reviews I've seen good results with the AMD FirePro workstation cards. Even if the ones in the new Mac Pro is a bit underclocked, it probably does alright in 3D modeling such as 3DS max and Maya.

Then again, with that price we expect to be blown away... fact is.. you could get alot of PC for 3999$...

Yea, and I guess most of us would like to stay away from Windows as long as possible.

But can I ask you, when you say "render" and "high end render".. what do you mean exactly?

Since its suspected the FirePro D700 is based on the FirePro W9000 and the latter here is easily compared to Nvidias Quadro cards. Why wouldnt that kind of hardware suffice?

In all honesty, drivers are more important than pure strength when rendering. Which is why the workstation cards cost way way waaay more than gaming cards such as GTX 780, Titan and so on. But yet they are "weaker"...

Its all in the drivers and hardware-software compatibility.

I am not trying to pick a fight here, just curious as I said.

Ah, I get what your saying. Thats very unfortunate I guess.

So if they were to put in a modified Nvidia Quadro workstation card as a option, there would be no problem on that end?

I thought you guys meant that there isnt enough power, but as you said. Everyone with a Nvidia dependency wont have a choice.

Hopefully they will add that option down the line.

A related question is whether it is possible to "bond" multiple TB2 cables to serve as one virtual pipe with greater capacity than a single TB2 connection.